Texas Gothic (Rosemary Clement-Moore)

****

         Amy Goodnight is one normal girl in a family full of witches.  Her mom, sister, and aunts all embrace their abilities, but Amy prefers to separate herself from the supernatural.  She accepts a summer job ranch-sitting for her aunt in Texas hoping that it will bring her away from her family's crazy antics.  Instead, Amy arrives just as a dead body is discovered at a construction site near the ranch.  People are being mysteriously injured and rumors of a violent ghost are spreading through town.  Worst of all, the infuriatingly cute cowboy next door is sure that the Goodnights have something to do with it.

         Texas Gothic was an awesome mystery/ghost story - I plowed right through it in a few days.  It had all of the right elements: cool characters, an architectural dig, a family feud, and a little romance on the side.  Plus, there were nice unexpected twists and it was super-creepy in a good way.  Granted, it doesn't take too much to creep me out, but whatever.  I stayed up late reading this book even though it kind of freaked me out when I did.  It was worth it, because the story was so interesting and I was dying to know what was coming next.  If you're in the mood for a great ghost mystery, I would definitely recommend this book.

Rating: 4/5
Completed: July 31, 2012

It's supposed to be lovely and sunny and warm this week.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to enjoy it much, as today was the first day of school.  This seems to happen every year in my town: it's chilly when we get out of school in early June, but gorgeous when school starts again at the end of August.  Someone should seriously rethink this system.  Has school started for you yet (assuming you do, in fact, go to school)?  Are you excited, indifferent, or dreading it?  Post in the comments - you don't need to be a follower to do it!

Prized (Caragh M. O'Brien)

****

Sequel to Birthmarked

         Gaia Stone managed to escape from the Enclave with her baby sister, but that doesn't mean they're safe.  After a short time in the Wasteland, newborn Maya is weak and sick.  Gaia is relieved when a young man arrives and takes her to his home, a community called Sylum.  When they arrive, the powerful matriarch takes Maya away to be raised by another family.  If Gaia wants to see her sister again, she has to play by the matriarch's rules and gain her trust.  That means treating men as inferior and avoiding physical contact with them.  Just when Gaia is making headway with the matriarch, someone unexpected reappears in her life and she is forced to question everything about the life she's making for herself.

         One thing I really like about this series is Gaia's moral strength.  She faces a lot of conflicting ideas about what is right and what is wrong, especially when her survival relies on her ability to live by somebody else's beliefs.  At first, Gaia has a hard time figuring out whether the Enclave's system or Sylum's system is better.  Both societies had convincing arguments, but in the end Gaia was able to come to her own conclusions regarding fair treatment.  I think it's a pretty admirable when someone risks everything because it's the right thing to do, and Gaia is more likable because of it.  This was a good addition to the series, and I'll definitely be reading the next one when it comes out.

Rating: 4/5
Completed: July 28, 2012

Yesterday I got all of my wisdom teeth extracted.  I have a slight case of dentist phobia, probably because of a dentist who pulled about half of my teeth thinking it would prevent me from needing braces.  (He was wrong).  Anyway, I was pretty freaked out by the whole thing.  They had loads of trouble finding a vein for the IV, so they stabbed me five times.  Once I came to, I was apparently delirious.  I hate the feeling of having no control of what I say or do, especially when I'm not going to remember it afterwards.  I hear some people actually like this drugged state, though.  Now my cheeks are all swollen and I hardly have an appetite.  I suppose the pain could be a lot worse, though.  What about you?  Have any dental/wisdom tooth stories to share?  Even though the dentist has nothing to do with books, let's hear about it!

Unbreak My Heart (Melissa Walker)

***

         Clementine's sophomore year didn't go quite as planned.  She broke the most important friendship rule in the book and ended up losing all of her friends.  Clem's lack of a social life is the only reason she's going along with the idea of a summer-long family sailing trip.  Even though Clem isn't putting up a fight, being stuck with her parents and little sister on a tiny boat for two months is a little more than she can handle.  So it's a really good thing when she meets James, who's sailing the same route she is with his father.  Maybe James will be the one to help Clem get over last year and start enjoying everything that she has left.

         Unbreak My Heart was a good but not super-memorable book.  Clementine was (understandably, I suppose) a little snippy with people at first, but she made some emotional progress.  She was really lucky to have such a kind, understanding family.  However, the contrast between their niceness and her angstiness (I'm not sure that's a word) made Clem seem like a worse person than she actually was.  James was also a really nice guy - despite the family problems he had, he was cheerful 99% of the time.  On top of that, he got over anything upsetting very quickly.  It might have given the story more depth if Clem wasn't the only person who was struggling with negative emotions.  Luckily, this is the kind of book where everything works out in the end, so Clem's problems all get solved.  Unbreak My Heart isn't the best chick lit I've ever read, but it was a pretty good book on the whole.

Rating: 3/5
Completed: July 22, 2012

So, to get completely off the topic of reading, the Olympics are over now.  Very sad.  I absolutely love the summer Olympics.  They're really bad for my book goal, but I'm willing to make the sacrifice for swimming and diving and gymnastics.  It was a great year for the US swim team; they were so fun to watch.  Did you watch the Olympics?  Which are your favorite sports and athletes to follow?  Let me know in the comments.

Back When You Were Easier to Love (Emily Wing Smith)

***

         When Joy's boyfriend, Zan, decides to go to college a year early with no warning or explanation, Joy is devastated.  Zan was the only one who understood Joy and her feelings about life in conservative Haven, Utah.  After a few months of going through the motions of her senior year, Joy concludes that there is only one option left: go to California to find Zan and get some closure (or, if she's being honest, get Zan back).  Unfortunately, none of her friends are willing to accompany her on this secret mission.  That leaves Noah, Zan's former best friend, who got as little closure as Joy did when Zan left.  As this unlikely pair goes out in search of Zan, they discover that some friends aren't worth keeping.  

         Back When Your Were Easier to Love is a lot like another book I read recently, Getting Over Garrett Delaney.  When two books are this similar, it's really hard not to compare them.  Personally, I liked Garrett better.  Joy wasn't as strong a character (or a girl) as Sadie was.  Both were obsessed with the guys in their life, but Joy spends almost the entire book clinging to Zan.  It got kind of old after a while, especially when it became clear that Noah liked Joy.  Which is really strange, actually, seeing as Joy was openly mean and prejudiced against Noah because he was popular.  Joy's personality brought the book down for me.  However, Back When You Were Easier to Love would have a strong appeal for people who don't like to read books that include teens drinking alcohol or even kissing.  Most of the characters are Mormon, and their behavior is heavily influenced by their religious beliefs.  Kissing was only barely mentioned, and the strongest thing Joy and her friends drink is Sprite.  Unless this is important to you, though, I would recommend reading Getting Over Garrett Delaney instead.  In the end, I think it's a more enjoyable book.  

Rating: 3/5

Completed: June 20, 2012

Destined (Aprilynne Pike)

***

The final installment in Aprilynne Pike's Wings series

         Laurel now knows that Yuki is a Winter faerie, and she is more than capable of helping Klea destroy Avalon.  Laurel, Tamani, David, and Chelsea must open the gates to warn everyone that Klea is coming.  Even with advance notice, Avalon doesn't have enough time to prepare for the battle that will determine the survival of the Winter dynasty.  Their only hope lies in humans Chelsea and David, who might be able to turn the tide in a war that can't be won with faerie magic alone.

         I really, really loved this series when I read the first book, Wings.  I didn't enjoy the following books quite as much, including Destined.  However, it was a pretty good ending to the series.  I was glad to get some closure on the Laurel-Tamani-David love triangle (I won't tell you how it ended, but it was a relief for me).  I wish that instead of having four books in this series, books three and four were sandwiched together.  There is a lot of action covered in Destined, but it really feels like the next chapter in Illusions instead of a new book.  If you've read the other Wings books and plan on reading this one as well, make a point of reading Illusions again first.  I think that's the best way to maximize enjoyment of the last book in this series.

Rating: 3/5
Completed: July 19, 2012

Hello, Blog Viewers!
If anyone has a good book recommendation or two, I would love to hear from you in the comments.  Or you could say hello, if you don't have any suggestions.  I just want to meet the people who read the blog.  Don't be shy!

The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)

*****

         "The circus arrives without warning.  No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers.  It is simply there, when yesterday it was not."
         - The Night Circus, p. 1

         Le Cirque des Rêves stirs up a quiet sort of excitement wherever it goes.  It doesn't look like a normal circus: no circus of the usual kind is entirely in black and white.  Nor does a normal circus open at night and close as the sun begins to rise.  Inside are countless tents, each home to an attraction that is simply too marvelous to be real.  So wondrous is the Night Circus that hundreds of people - the rêveurs, as they are called - share fond memories of the circus as they track its progress around the globe, waiting for their next chance to visit.  Though the rêveurs know that Le Cirque des Rêves is more than just a circus, they could never guess at its true nature.  The Night Circus is the venue for a magical game with devastating consequences to all involved.  The players in the game are Marco and Celia, who have been training for this exhibition of talent since childhood.  When the game begins and identities are discovered, Celia and Marco fall in love.  As the pair tries to keep the circus from damaging all of the people it touches, they discover that the rules of the game are not at all what they had expected.

         The Night Circus was a very unique book, unlike anything I have ever read before.  Erin Morgenstern has a great eye for the details, bringing Le Cirque des Rêves to life with powerful descriptions of things including a dreamlike clock, caramel-scented air, and a pair of eccentric red-headed twins.  Morgenstern's writing made the circus feel quite real.  The characters were also done really well.  There's a lot of jumping back and forth in time, so you get an in-depth understanding of the most important people.  I would recommend this to everybody based on how much I enjoyed it, but I think that it might feel too "slow" for some people.  Personally, I thought it was a really nice change from what I normally read.  If you don't mind a book that isn't action-packed (at least in the usual sense) and moves at a relaxed pace, you should definitely read The Night Circus.  It was all kinds of awesome!

Rating: 5/5
Completed: July 18, 2012

Birthmarked (Caragh M. O'Brien)

****

         Each month, teenage midwife Gaia Stone is required to separate three newborns from their mothers and advance them to the Enclave, a privileged society inside of a wall.  Gaia believes that she is giving the infants a better life, even if it causes grief to the families they leave behind.  She doesn't question her duty to the Enclave until her parents are arrested after years of service, leaving behind a long ribbon with a secret code written on it.  Despite the risks, Gaia is determined to get into the Enclave to rescue her parents.  She quickly discovers that life in the Enclave isn't as good as it appeared from the outside, and the problems they face make her own knowledge essential to their survival.

       Birthmarked was a really good, fast-paced read.  The main characters were developed well - Gaia, for instance, was not a perfect person, but she had a really good heart and was easy to care about.  Both Gaia and Leon (an officer for the Enclave) had strong identities rooted in their childhoods, and you could see how that shaped the way they saw their society.  The concept of an inbred society was interesting as well . . . kind of made me think of AP Modern Euro, though.  It was cool/freaky to see how the Enclave tried to deal with this issue, and also how outsiders like Gaia reacted to it.  More importantly, Birthmarked totally sucked me in.  It was exciting enough to give me the chills and make me want to stay up all night reading.  Anyone who likes dystopian future should read this book.

Rating: 4/5
Completed: July 5, 2012